The Hidden Costs and Disgraceful Barriers to Housing

Recent articles in the press have drawn attention to the high costs of urban housing. Some of them are logical and hard to avoid, while others are because of excessive profiteering and party patronage.

But there is another bizarre, little known reason why formal houses are beyond the reach of most aspirant first-time homeowners: they seldom have much capital to invest in a first home.

This is often a consequence of poverty, but in Namibia it is much more a result of deliberate policies and legislation that prevent poorer people from generating capital from property.

To understand why, imagine this Breaking News: “The president decrees that all private land and housing may never be sold to anyone or for any purpose in Namibia.”